Tough night: Yang promises Davison Figueiredo a tough fight

On November 23 in Macau will be held UFC Fight Night tournament, in the main event of which will fight Peter Yan. In Macau, the Russian will face another former champion - Davison Figueiredo, who took the belt in the category below - in 57 kg. Yang and Figueiredo will fight at lightweight to 61 kg, with the winner lining up for a title shot. The fight will be a five-round bout, and the main card will start unaccustomedly early - at 14:00 Moscow time. So, the fight between Yan and the Brazilian should be expected no later than 5 pm.

Lift the weight

In March 2024, Petr Yan broke a bad streak of three consecutive defeats. The Russian defeated China's Sun Yadong by unanimous decision of the judges. Earlier he had lost on points to Merab Dvalishvili, Sean O'Malley and Aljamain Sterling. If in the fight with O'Malley and the rematch with Sterling could see Peter's victory, Dvalishvili did not give the Russian a single round. However, it should be taken into account that Yan came to the fight with the Georgian with serious injuries - this did not allow him to open up to the fullest.

The turning point in Yan's career happened in March 2021, when after his victory over Jose Aldo he made the first defense of his title in a fight with Sterling. In the fourth round, Peter knocked out Sterling with a banned knee strike, when the American had three points of support on the canvas.

Yan was disqualified and Sterling became champion, but long refused a rematch because of a neck injury. Then Petr was given a fight for the interim title with Corey Sandhagen, and the Russian won the fight. And then the losing streak began - close but lost fights and a frankly bad performance against Dvalishvili.

Davison Figueiredo had 17 fights in the UFC - four more than Yan. The Brazilian has 13 wins, three losses and one draw, but most of the fights took place in the lightest category - up to 57 kg. Only the last three fights Figueiredo spent in the lightest weight (up to 61 kg). First, he defeated Rob Font by judges' decision, then choked out another former champion, Cody Garbrandt, and finally outpointed Marlon Vera.

Figueiredo moved up in the category for a reason. Besides the opportunity to become the holder of two championship belts, the Brazilian was simply tired of fighting the same opponent at 57 kg. In two and a half years Davison had four fights against Brandon Moreno: they started with a draw, then Moreno won, in the third fight Figueiredo took the upper hand, and in the fourth fight the Mexican put a stop to the confrontation, winning for the second time. Soon Moreno lost the belt, losing to Allesandre Pantoja, but Figueiredo decided not to have any more rematches and left for another division.

On the feet

During the first duel of glances, Yang said something to Figueiredo, which made the Brazilian laugh. Peter later answered in an interview with MMA Fighting what made his opponent laugh so hard.

- I just told him it was going to be a hard and tough night for him," Jan said. - He's never faced anything like this before. I don't bluff. I don't play games. I honestly don't think he's ever faced what he's going to face on Saturday night, Nov. 23. He hasn't had the challenges that I have had.

Figueiredo also has no doubts about his victory.

- I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth,'' Figueiredo told Sherdog. - I am from the jungle. My father was a farmer and he raised me in the jungle where I always had to deal with wild animals. We've studied Petr thoroughly. His game is full of holes. He didn't come from wrestling or jiu-jitsu. Jan likes to throw punches. And I'm a puncher. We are confident that the fight will go to the feet. I have many more techniques that I will use against him. My plan is to keep training, become UFC champion again and, God willing, retire with dignity.

If Ian wins, he could very well claim championship ambitions again. The belt is currently held by Merab Dvalishvili, and Peter makes no secret of his desire for a rematch. If the Russian defeats Figueiredo, only Umar Nurmagomedov or Sean O'Malley will be able to prevent Yan's title shot with Merab.

By the way, Umar himself in an interview with Izvestia also shared his opinion on the upcoming clash between Yan and the Brazilian.

- Peter Yan is certainly a very talented fighter - emphasized Umar Nurmagomedov. - No one is arguing with that. I wish him victory. I really want him to win this fight and throw Figueiredo out of the title race! (Laughs) I just have you know what I'm betting on.... Peter Yan boxes very well, has a very good sense of distance. And his feet are not bad, he has a good clinch, but at the same time he has a bad defense.... His wrestling is not bad, it's not always easy to take him down, but he has some holes in his grappling. Along with that, Figueiredo has very good grappling. He wrestles very well, he grapples very well. Not the freestyle wrestling itself - Brazilians don't usually have good freestyle wrestling. Takedowns, they're not good at it. But if you take him down, you can hold him, you can take his back - we saw it when he took Cody Garbrandt's back and choked him, he choked Rob Font. So there are concerns that Peter could lose. But we'll be rooting for our compatriot. We wish him good luck.

In addition to Yan, another Russian will compete at UFC Fight Night in China. In the welterweight division, Muslim Salikhov will fight local fighter Song Keenan.